4 Signs You Have Outgrown Your Home Office

Home is where the heart is, it’s the family seat and the place to do whatever it is that makes you and your loved ones feel comfortable and safe. Home can also be where the office is, and the work-from-home concept is fast becoming the new normal for today’s increasingly mobile workforce. This includes remote, telecommuting employers, small business owners, freelancers, and solo professionals. A designated space at home to call the office is a better alternative than the local coffee shops with all their distractions. A lot of the folks who work at our coworking, shared offices space at Office Evolution in Hackensack, NJ used to work from the home location. Some still do, part of the time anyway. Many came to us because of a common problem though. They would walk in and say: I’ve outgrown my home office. Perhaps you can relate.

Signs You Have Outgrown Your Home Office

If working from home used to feel right but no longer does, there’s a good chance you’ve outgrown it. There are four simple indicators that will determine whether this is or isn’t the case.

There are now too many distractions and disruptions
The work/home separation becomes increasingly more difficult
Your job starts to take over the house
Loneliness and isolation begin to sap motivation

There are lots of great tips and suggestions on how to stay focused in the home office, but distraction is not the only problem. Perhaps there are times when you have to host employee meetings or entertain clients if you’re a small business. The home is not really the ideal setting for this. In the case of a growing business, the home office setting can come across as unprofessional. It might even put some prospects off. A home residential address doesn’t exactly stand out on a business card either, and you can’t use it as a business address on Google business listings.

Running Out of Space and Patience

As your workload expands and your duties increase, there’s comes the space issue. What if you need others by your side, an extra pair of hands or two perhaps? Peripheral devices can take up plenty of space as well. The more people there are, the more peripherals and desk space you need.

For some people, like a research writer for example, the small home office might offer the perfect solution. After all, the tools of the writing trade need little more than a computer and a connection to the internet. For other types of work, the busier you get, the more demands there are on your working requirements. In short, you need to step back and assess your situation. Are you less productive, less organized and less motivated than you once were? If the answer is yes, there’s a good chance you’ve outgrown or are outgrowing your home office.

Act Fast, Explore New Options

The secret to success is to never let the grass grow under your feet, figuratively speaking. If you’ve outgrown your home office it’s both good and bad news. It’s bad because it’s not working as well as it once did. It’s good because it means you’re probably getting busier and hopefully more successful in whatever it is you’re doing. As an employee, your boss gives you more responsibility, but the new demands are difficult to accomplish from the home location. As an independent worker you are growing, and that usually means extra tools, services, and more interactions with other people.

Reasons to Keep the Home Office

It would be unwise to dismantle the home office altogether. There will be many occasions when it comes in very useful at different times of the day or week. It’s worth holding onto it as an integral part of your work setup, but no longer as the sole work location. Okay, so let’s say you’ve outgrown your office at home. And let’s also assume you’re not yet in a position to commit to a traditional office and all the costs associated with that. For anyone in your situation, the perfect solution is a relatively new concept called the virtual office.

The Real Benefits of a Virtual Office for Mobile, Telecommuting Workers

A virtual office setup is different to a more traditional bricks and mortar office. To begin with, it’s not your responsibility. That means you don’t rent the building or pay for its utility bills and maintenance costs. In other words, there are no overheads. With a membership at Office Evolution Hackensack, you can rent an office and meeting or conference rooms on demand. To put that into some perspective, you can rent spaces for intervals as short as 15 minutes if that’s all you need at the time. You also become a member and get your own mailbox and professional business address that you are free to use on all your business cards, website, and office stationary. The address shows just the suite number, no box number, so it all looks very professional. If you’re a small business or freelancer, it means you get to have a presence on Google maps and thus show up in local search results. You can even hire the services of a virtual receptionist if you need someone to answer calls and take messages for you. They can even manage your calendar by making and confirming appointments and qualify leads. Only you will know that the virtual telephonist is not your fulltime employee.

Seven Practical Benefits of the Coworking Space

Here’s a quick breakdown of the other main benefits of a virtual office membership:

Very little commute time to your local coworking center
Employees become more energized and active in our state of the art coworking center
More flexibility on how and when you work
Access to a pool of other talented members
No direct overhead costs (we even supply coffee and toilet paper)
Get to use the latest plug-and-play technologies
Contentment and productivity increase because of the above

Regarding point two, it’s now a proven fact that the spaces we work in really do have an effect on happiness and productivity.

The Logical Next Step

Our professional coworking space offers a logical next step solution for homeworkers who need more. Small business owners, solo professional, freelancers and employees are all welcome. Plug in your laptop computers, smartphones and other devices at our dedicated desks and you’re good to go. Members can take full advantage of our high-speed internet access, peripherals and coworking lounge. Our coworking spaces provide everything a traditional office has and more besides. The difference is that you don’t have the commitment and overhead costs of running your own office. In short, those who take advantage of the flexibility of the shared concept make significant savings. Growth needs evolution, and that’s exactly what we offer to members.

If you’ve outgrown your office at home, our virtual office solutions are the answer to your prayers. The move to our affordable, professional virtual workspace could not be easier. All you have to do is make the decision and then head over to our New Jersey coworking center. That’s it!

If you’re from surrounding New Jersey towns, we’re on your doorstep. Call Office Evolution Hackensack, NJ today or send us a message for more information. We’d be happy to discuss how we can benefit you and your situation to best effect.

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At Office Evolution Hackensack, we provide virtual office, coworking, and private office solutions. We offer meeting rooms, offices, a coworking lounge, a shared reception, a business address, and virtual receptionist services. We have many options and price points, and all terms are flexible. Plus, you become part of a community of like-minded professionals.

Whether you live in Teaneck, Bergenfield, Maywood, Teterboro, Hasbrouck Heights, Moonachie, Little Ferry, Rochelle Park, Dumont, Bogota, River Edge, New Milford, Hackensack, Englewood, Paramus, Tenafly and other communities nearby in Bergen and Essex counties, choosing Office Evolution Hackensack in New Jersey will help you be more professional, productive, and profitable.